luis wrote:Isn't anyone worried about contamination of Bacopa with heavy metals ? Bacopa has high affinity for mercury, cadmium and other heavy metals which they extract from the soil.

Yes, I am worried. I sent email to Swanson asking me to show CoA for their Bacopa. They didn't have it, but assured that they comply wth GMP. I didn't like it. I found on inet a forum where somebody posted heavy metal content in their Bacopa product. Heavy metals were roughly 10ppm, which is OK (supposed to be less than 10ppm for US, but California has a stricter standard, about 1ppm for a 500mg product). Then I asked myself a question: what has more mercury and lead, a salad or 1 capsule of Bacopa? I am still debating.

fiveyearswasted, are you concerned that Gotu Kola can damage liver?http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/gotu-kola"Gotu kola has been used in some studies that lasted up to one year. However, gotu kola has the potential to be harmful to the liver. It's best not to use gotu kola for more than 6 weeks without talking to your doctor. You may need to take a 2-week break before taking the herb again."

Also, are you concerned with lead polution of Bacopa? It seems to be a common topic of concern (may be due to the nature of this plant it tends to soak lead)

CofA means something pertains to the product and are measurable and described. For example, 100% solid, and brownish color. If a mixture, some component can't be quantified by any modern methods. The CofA will give the density (in the case of liquid), pH if mixed with water, and viscosity, etc.

autismnhusa wrote:CofA means something pertains to the product and are measurable and described. For example, 100% solid, and brownish color. If a mixture, some component can't be quantified by any modern methods. The CofA will give the density (in the case of liquid), pH if mixed with water, and viscosity, etc.

CoA should list heavy metals (like lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic) and any bacterial or mold or pesticide. All measurable quantities. I am assuming that all those things are dangerous even in traditional chinese medicine. I respect TCM, but the raw materials are often sold in private herbalist shops in the back streets with no info where they came from and how pure they are. I understand that in old days, before industrial revolution, everything was organic with no or little contaminants. Today, these herbs could be colected near a power or a fertilizer plant somewhere in China or India.

my understanding is that bacognize, bacopa has acceptable heavy metals controls, and meets or exceeds the levels for prop65 from CA which is the lowest acceptable levels per regulation. Has anyone seen this on the others?

tandchloe wrote:my understanding is that bacognize, bacopa has acceptable heavy metals controls, and meets or exceeds the levels for prop65 from CA which is the lowest acceptable levels per regulation. Has anyone seen this on the others?

I bought three brands: Swanson Bacognize, AOR Enlighten and Bacopa Gold. I tried already the first two on myself, zero effect. Perhaps I am too healthy to notice any improvements. I had the same zero effect from Piracetam, but it helped my son enomously (Piracetam is know to enhance the blood flow). I am going to try Bacopa Gold next, but I doubt it will make me more focused or clever. If you are looking to boost blood circulation, Vinpocetine and Picamilon are the best. I can actually feel my head gets heavy, but I don't feel any improvements in focus or clarity. In fact, the heavy head feeling distracts me. My son is visibly more hyper on Vinpocetine (I haven't tried Bacopa or Picamilon on him yet). Ginkgo Biloba is also a good enhancer of blood circulation, but unfortunetely is known to cause seizures. Of course, HBOT is another way to go.

He doesn't have seizures but epileptiform activity in the form of spikes in his EEG, more pronounced during sleep. The number of these fast discharges increased dramatically over the last 2-3 years (he is 6 now). My son is taking vit E, Carnosine, and Taurine, all of which help to reduce seizures. But I doubt if they do anything at all. Although Taurine before bed helps him sleep better. We even increased Carnosine from 250mg to 500mg/day, still zero effect. I don't think supplements can treat seizures or epileptiform activity. Right now, after careful comparison of different anti-seizure meds, we are considering starting Lamictal.

We have been applying the Frankincense oil to my son's feet and neck every night for the past 8 months. This is somewhat related to Ayurveda. We didn't see any improvements that I can correlate to this oil. I spent a lot of time searching natural treatments for abnormal EEG on internet. There are some claims out there without any support of clinical data. Eventually I came to the conclusion that trying those natural treatments in hopes that they work will just delay me starting a medication that is proven to work. And as I see it, it is important to start the medication early enough in the development when the brain is still re-wiring. Starting it too late will just treat the symptoms rather than helping brain to properly re-wire.

"markedly abnormal neuronal activity during a critical period for synaptogenesis may result in aberrant synapse formation, explaining the poorer neuropsychological outcome. Early recognition and effective therapy are necessary to improve long-term prognosis in this condition."

FYI: Synaptogenesis starts during pregnancy and ends by adolescence (12y).